Reading the recent Amoeblogs about new words being incorporated over the past year into the everyday English/American vocabulary got me thinking about a word or expression that got dropped in all but one context, hence losing its original meaning -- those two words together that make up the expression "ground zero," which up until September 11th 2001, simply referred to the scene of a nuclear explosion or a place where some disaster of some kind took place. But after 9/11/01 everything changed.

Back in 1986 when Weird Al Yankovic recorded the above song "Christmas At Ground Zero" it did not have the same connotation it has post 9/11. In fact, so powerful a punch does the term "ground zero" pack (summoning images in most media-fed minds of the smoldering World Trade Center) that the song above -- once a staple at radio stations during Christmas time -- got abruptly dropped from playlists forever. Likewise, the song that Weird Al loosely based this song on, Fishbone's "Party At Ground Zero," also got dropped like a hot potato.